Happy Birthday Delaney Jo!

Delaney on her 2nd Birthday!

Dear Delaney, 

Today is your second birthday...can you believe it!   Two years ago you graced us with your presence a little earlier than planned.  Thankfully, you are one strong little girl, and even though you were a full month early you have never had any complications or setbacks!  You're a fighter little one!  Tomorrow we are going to see your doctor to find out just how big you are, and I expect nothing but perfect results as always!  I think we just went through a growth spurt, so I'm excited to see where you are on the charts now!

You have been acting like a two-year old here lately, and testing your daddy and me at every turn!  You have quite the personality, and I can only expect now that you are officially two-years-old we will see more and more of that personality shine through!  You are a strong-willed, stubborn child that we love to pieces no matter how "naughty" you may be!  You are also a sweetheart (when you want to be), and I can already see your independence blossoming.  Just this morning, you had to buckle your own shoes without my help! 

Your intelligence at this young age baffles me every day.  You are figuring out more and more ways to "work the system" a.k.a. play Mommy & Daddy like a fiddle.  The latest testament to this has been your recent bedtime antics.   Bedtime has been a struggle for a couple months now, but recently it's gotten worse.  With our potty training efforts, you have figured out that I can't say "No" to the have to go potty excuse.  This has led to a nightly routine of multiple trips to the bathroom while making our way to bed.  I have had to start telling you "This is your last trip, get it all out because we aren't coming back!"  When that doesn't work for extended the bedtime a little longer, you pull out the big guns and say (or scream) in your sweetest, most pittiful voice..."Mommy, love you!, Mommy, love you!, etc."  It's like a dagger in Mommy's heart to hear you cry such wonderful things, and not go and immediately pick you up!  I know that you are using these heartstrings to work your Mommy into a frenzy that causes me to let me guard down and give in.  You are so smart...probably too smart for your own (and my) good!  

So far, you seem to be interested in both the arts and sports!  The first TV you even acknowledged was watching football with your Daddy!  (You have since expanded to basketball and of course Sesame Street!)  You have also developed some serious dance moves!  You love to color, paint, and write with sidewalk chalk!  You favorite color right now is green, but when it comes to nail polish it has to be Hot Pink!  You would spend hours going up and down your slide on the swing set in the back yard. You have even mastered the rock climbers up to the platform for the slide all by your self over the last 48 hours!  You are all about being outside these days, and you have landed yourself in "time out" quite a few times for deciding to let yourself out into the backyard all by yourself with no shoes or adult supervision!  

You have a love/hate relationship with food.   You have gone from the chunky baby that would eat anything we gave her to the picky toddler that eat only what she wants, when she wants it.  We have shamefully resorted to bribery to get you to eat your meat at dinner time.  Your favorites seem to be pasta and pizza, but on any given day you will refuse those as well.  You go through phases of favorites with fruit.  This week it's strawberries, we went through a good month-long blueberry phase right after Christmas, next week it will probably be kiwi or grapes!  You still only drink milk & water, as you won't even try juice.  We are fine with this as long as you are getting all the nutrients you need!  We do have to ration your milk to three servings a day because you are a "milk-a-holic", and would drink milk all day, every day if we let you!  You have also shown that you suffer from a severe sweet tooth, just like both of your parents--Sorry, peanut, that probably won't go away anytime soon!  

You are still an avid book lover!  This is another one of your stalling tactics at bedtime, so we have had to impose a 1-2 book limit at bedtime!  Your favorites lately have been DOG (a.k.a. the puppy book), Counting with Elmo, and Mickey Mouse!  You also enjoy reading your books in the car and while trying to go potty!  You even have a couple bath books that you get to read in the bath, which you think is pretty cool!  You got a bunch of new books yesterday at your birthday party, and I'm sure you will love them all!   

Your vocabulary has expanded exponentially over the last few months.  You now form sentences & commands in no time!  You love to talk, and you talk from the minute you wake up in the morning until the minute you finally cave in and go to sleep. You can now count to 12 (when you feel like it), and you know dozens of animals and their "sounds".  You can identify many colors, even if you still have a little trouble with red & blue.    You have an inquisitive little mind, and you now ask lots of questions!  I can only imagine this will continue for many years!  You are a sponge with new words & phrases.  The best lately have been, "Not Cool, Mom", "Oh my goodness", and "Holy Smokes".  You have also picked up on a few not-so-cute things, that we are trying to de-program out of you! 

You are a rough & tumble little girl!  You fall and crash all the time, and you have the battle scars to prove it.  You are tough though, and it is rare that anything but a kiss is needed to get you back on your feet.  Your poor little legs are all bruised and banged up for recent outdoor adventures, and your little feet have little blisters from your new shoes.  I was told often as a child that I would "never be a leg model", and I'm afraid my girl you have the same fate ahead of you.  The other day you cracked your head on Daddy's tailgate and you barely cried for about 10 seconds before you were off and running again.  None of this slows you down, and I think we have a long summer of skinned knees and bruises ahead of us! 

You have always been a bit of a tom-boy, but there are some tried and true signs of a little girl in there peaking out.  Most recently when you put on a pretty outfit or get your hair done, you'll say "look at me" and shake your little hips.  You have also developed a serious little crush on our neighbor Craig, you talk about him non-stop when you see him, but when he comes to talk to you...you get all bashful!  You got two new baby dolls for your birthday, but so far we need to work on your mothering skills.  Last night you were heaving the babies into their bed from the dinner table.  That behavior makes me a little nervous for whenever we decide you need a sibling--thankfully, we don't have any immediate plans for this, so we have some time to work on being gentle! 

You are a Sesame Street addict these days.  When you are up early in the mornings, you watch Sesame Street episodes we record on the DVR while Mommy gets ready for work.  Elmo is your favorite right now, but you love Abby Cadabby (Gabby Gabby) and Cookie Monster.  You will now request to watch "wideo" anytime you can on  Daddy's phone.  Fortunately for you, Daddy loves Cookie Monster too!  You have requested to wear only Elmo panties for the past two weeks, and you will only wear your Hello Kitty pants or your Minnie Mouse pants if all the Elmos are in the laundry.  I can only imagine dressing you will only get harder and harder and you start to have your own ideas of what you want to wear! 

You are the best thing that has ever happened to your Daddy & Me, and we love you even more every day!  You are one special, and very loved little girl!  You will never have to look far for love & support because you are surrounded by people that love you, starting with us!  

Love,

Mommy (and Daddy)

P.S. I'll post your stats after tomorrow's doctors appointment.  I will also post some pictures very soon from your Big Birthday Bash we celebrated yesterday!